FLINTSHIRE’S environmental efforts have been dealt a blow after the Welsh Assembly slashed a recycling grant.

The county council had budgeted for a £390,000 grant to deal with the increasing amount of electronic and electrical equipment waste.

Instead, the authority has been told the Assembly is unable to cover the costs and this will now affect the recycling budget.

The council executive discussed the General Fund Revenue Budget Monitoring report for 2007/08 at its latest meeting.

The report stated: “Previous projections for recycling have allowed for Flintshire to receive the full amount of the cost of those services funded by way of the Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) grant.

“Confirmation has now been received from the Welsh Assembly Government advising that the bill for these services exceeds the funding allocation available, and therefore the authority has received a percentage of the total monies available.

“Flintshire County Council has only received £204,000 of the WEEE grant, representing a shortfall of £186,000 on the original anticipated allocation.

“The grant allocation impacts on the civic amenity and recycling budgets within the directorate’s general fund base budget.”

Flintshire’s executive member for Waste and Asset Management, Cllr Kevin Jones, expressed concern in the light of existing recycling pressures as the general public increasingly responds to the demands of sustainability.

Cllr Jones said: “There’s an ongoing pressure of expenditure for us not to be a throw away society. There’s going to be an increase in the numbers and levels of such waste in years ahead.

“We need to put pressure on the Welsh Assembly Government about the importance of meeting the cost in full.”